We Aren’t Innovating the Storybook Just Because We Can… It’s Because We Should

Two years ago, I set an insane goal for myself. I was going to innovate the world’s oldest form of communication, storytelling. Many people told me many different things. Some said it couldn’t be done, and a lot of people lost their support for my mission. Well here we are two years later, I did it.

Here’s what inspired me to take on this challenge…

I don’t want children to grow up in a world where communication is barred by technology. Alternatively, and more preferably, it should enhance it. It’s a two way street, really. One road being that technology is making communication more accessible and the other being that it reduces the significance of one on one communication. I’ve been an entrepreneur for the majority of my life, and I can definitely say that knowing how to communicate effectively, whether in a meeting, social environment, or even simple casual occasions can easily distinguish you from others in a positive and beneficial way. Effective communication skills establish you as a confident and charismatic person all while allowing you to build stronger relationships and boost the value of your ideas to others. On the contrary, though new social platforms allow you to spread your message to a much broader audience, the effects of communication become far less personal. Today, every child is born into a world where the use of Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat are the norm. What’s stopping them from eliminating one on one communication all together?

Humans simply enjoying the act of talking, gossiping, and sharing their opinions. With the help of Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms, our digital life is now the ultimate source of amplified personal opinions, open thoughts, filters, and a dash of false reality. People are creating an alternate version of themselves and it’s driving me crazy (boom, there’s an example of a personal thought being expressed openly on the internet). Simon Sinek explains this perfectly…“We are growing up in a facebook/instagram world… in other words, we are good at putting filters on things.” It’s not the fact that social media is making it easy for people to open their minds so consistently, it’s the fact that people are doing it so poorly. Why? It’s because we weren’t raised to use these platforms. We are all being forced to adapt to digital communication methods with very little prior knowledge on how to make the proper transition. Children on the other hand are adopting these new methods quicker than anyone else. It’s no wonder it’s their preferred communication method… they are being born into it.

I was born in 1998, making me a millennial (I think), and I constantly find myself discovering new methods for personalizing the digital version of myself. I don’t want to stray from these new methods, I just want to preserve some of the more traditional methods of communication that make one on one interactions so valuable.

Here’s the solution…

Teach children how to communicate effectively while they are still young. Although, in order to do that, we need to speak to them in a universal language, one that absolutely everyone can understand; stories. Storytelling has a profound way of illustrating the most essential behaviors every human should exemplify, this is why it is the most preferred method for teaching children practically anything. Before we do that, we have to solve an even bigger issue… kids would rather pick up their parents devices to play a meaningless game than pick up a good book. Like I said, there’s no reason to abandon new methods of communication, but it’s important to adapt at a sufficient pace. That’s why we’ve done the work we have. We have effectively innovated the storybook, while working to bridge the gaps between the forms of communication. In some ways, we have revitalized the world’s oldest form of communication so that children can once again enjoy the pleasures of reading a good book while still gaining the skills necessary to become effective communicators.

Our mission is to consistently provide children with the opportunity to be inspired by storybooks and give them the tools and resources to become incredible storytellers. To do this, we partnered with teachers, authors, and other literacy advocates from around the world to develop breakthrough methods that increase a child’s level of engagement when reading books.

We aren’t innovating the storybook because we can, it’s because we should. If we want our children to go out into the world as effective communicators and creative thinkers, then we need to give them access the most powerful tool of all, stories on the platform they are using most. We’ve successfully done just that, and we want to share it with you.

Please visit www.thestorybookfactory.com to learn more.

Thank you so much for reading!